Improvement in water-wheels



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Letters Patent No. 80,136, dated July 21, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN WATER-WHEELS.'

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TO ALL WHOM IIT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, D. W. CASE, of Garden City, in theconnty 'of Blue Earth, and State of Minnpsota, have invented a new and improved Water-Wheel; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to tbe accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

`This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in water-wheels, and it consists in a novel arrangement of chutes and gates, as hereinafter fully shown and described, whereby tho gates may be readily operated, opened, and closed, and rendered self-regulating when desired, so as to obtain a uniform speed of the wheel.

In theaccompanying sheet of drawings- Figure 1 is a side view of' my invention, partly in section.

Figure 2 a horizontal section of the same, taken in the line :z: ze, fig. 1`.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts. p

Arepresents a penstock, in which the wheel B is fitted, the shaft C of the latter working in suitable bearings, tra. i

The wheel is composed, of a cylindrical hub or centre, b, having buckets, c, attached to its periphery at suitable and equal distances apart, the upper portion of the buckets being vertical and the lower parts inclined, as shown clearly in fig. 1, and both parts of curved form in their transverse section, (see fig. 2.)

The upper part of the wheel, a portion equal in depth to the vertical parte of the buckets e, is enclosed by a xed rim, D, composed of a series of sockets or chambers, d, (see tig. 2,) with spaces e between them, which form chutes through which the water is admitted to the buckets c of the wheel.

E are the gates which are attahed to a ring, F, the latter 4ericzoiiripztssixig the rim D, and allowed to turn freely. l v

The gates work into the sockets or chambers d and across the fchutes E, and the outer parts of the gates are provided with iianges,f, yfor the water in the 'penstook to act against, as indicated by the arrows.

It will be seen, from the above description, that the pressure of the'water in the penstock against the gates E 'will have a tendency toclosc the same over the chutes-e.

The gates are retained open at any desired point by means of a pinion, g, on a shaft, C, said pinion gearing into teeth t on the ring F, a catch or fastening of any suitable kind being connected with shaft C` to retain it at any desired point, or, in lieu of the catch or fastening, aspring, spiral or other kind, may .be applied to said shaft in such a manner as t'o have a tendency to keep Vthe gates in an open state, the spring regulating the gates so as to Acause a uniform speedof the wheel under a varying head of water, the gates opening further under a diminished head in consequence ofthe/decreased pressure against the exterior surface of the gates', and the gates being further closed under an increased head, owingto the increased pressure against Athe exterior of the'gates. v

'I claim as new, and desire to secure ,by Letters Patent- 4- The fixed rim D, composed of a series of sockets or chambers, d, in combination with the gates E, .provided with tlangesf, and attached to the ring F, all arranged to operate in connection with the wheel B, piniong, and the teeth t of the ring, substantially as shown and described.Y

The above specification of my invention signed by me, this 25th day of l\1'1rch,1868.4

D. W. CASE.

Witnesses:

C. WJ FRoMIf., J. S. SMITH. 

